1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a recording and/or reproducing apparatus such as a VTR and, more particularly, to a control mechanism for controlling the movement of tape guide members, which is suitable for use with a pinch roller which travels in association with tape loading by the tape guide members.
2. Description of the Related Art
Some conventional types of VTRs are arranged to position a pinch roller and tape guide members, such as a tape drawing post, in the opening of a cassette during mounting thereof, perform the tape loading operation of drawing a tape from the opening of the cassette and wrapping of the tape around the periphery of a rotary drum through the travel of the tape guide members, and cause the pinch roller to travel from the opening of the cassette in association with that tape loading operation, to press the pinch roller against a capstan with the tape being retained therebetween.
In this arrangement, normally, the pinch roller is supported by a turnable arm and the aforesaid travelling operation of the pinch roller is carried out by the turning of the turnable arm.
It is known that the development of recent small-size VTRs has occasioned an increase in the complexity of a tape path within a limited space and an increase in the number of tape guide members.
The mainstream art adopted in such a small-size VTR, particularly a camera-integrated VTR, is to dispose a travelling chassis on a fixed chassis to which a rotary drum is secured, in such a manner that the travelling chassis can travel forward and backward. In this arrangement, when a cassette is mounted on the travelling chassis, the travelling chassis is made to travel forward in the direction of the rotary drum in association with the loading of a tape by tape guide members, whereby at least part of the rotary drum is relatively inserted into the opening of the cassette.
In this arrangement, during tape loading, if the pinch roller and the tape guide members, which are positioned in the small opening of the cassette, are not made to travel from the opening in the direction of tape loading at a predetermined timing, the pinch roller will hinder the movement of the tape guide members for drawing the tape.
In addition, to cope with the increase in the number of tape guide members, the position of the pinch roller in the opening of the cassette in which these tape guide members are positioned needs to be set within a predetermined range in which the pinch roller is prevented from interfering with the tape and the body of the cassette within the opening thereof.